


maybe you'll take the long way home

by LottieAnna



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, D-Men to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Honesty, I promise there's only angst for like 20 minutes of Nursey's life, Kinda, Light Angst, M/M, Making Out, but the lightest of angst i promise, open communication is my kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 12:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7934962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieAnna/pseuds/LottieAnna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But then… </p><p>There was the part of his mind that was screaming you can’t say no even if it didn’t quite want to say yes."</p>
            </blockquote>





	maybe you'll take the long way home

**Author's Note:**

> "What if Nursey told Dex he liked him, and Dex hadn't been secretly pining from afar?" I asked myself earlier on the train. This is my best guess at how that situation could work out with a happy ending. 
> 
> unbeta'd, and yes those are Carly Rae Jepsen lyrics as the title. 
> 
> Of course, neither of these two boys would exist if it weren't for Ngozi's Check Please!

Nursey may have talked big game about being chill and going with the flow, but from where Dex was standing, it seemed like the other boy was always in his head, thinking, planning, dreaming. It was a secret of his that Dex had only unearthed through hours spent together in practice, in class, or just hanging out: Nursey liked to talk. He liked to say things about people to their faces and let them touch the relationships he had. He didn’t push people in directions they didn’t want to go, but he never just coexisted. He was always crafting the narratives in his life. He wanted to grow with people.

  
Dex had never been one to be affected by anyone else, so Nursey was definitely something new.

  
He’d had friends He’d had close friends. There was the neighbor he walked home with every day after school in 9th and 10th grades, and there was the forward from his high school team, and there was the boy he’d sat next to in AP Calculus his senior year, who studied with him before every test. He’d gotten along with them, laughed with them, formed inside jokes with them, gotten pizza with them, he remembered their birthdays and knew their parents and siblings and pets. But he didn’t find himself in touch with any of them anymore, now that he was at Samwell, and he didn’t find himself missing them, unless it was part of a particular bout of homesickness. They’d wandered out of his life, a natural passage with time that didn’t ever leave him with a sinking feeling in his stomach saying _I don’t want this to be over._

  
So when Dex and Nursey began to _evolve_ , Dex was confused. He remembered it being so clear, so real, the feeling that he just... did not like Nursey. Nursey was the kind of person who took up space in your life by telling you to be different, more vulnerable, more open, more chill. He wouldn’t leave Dex alone; even when they weren’t on ice, Nursey had felt the need to bother him, even though Dex had decided that they were just puzzle pieces that didn’t fit together. He’d poked and prodded at Dex until Dex relented and laughed at his jokes or helped him with his homework or didn’t flinch when Nursey called him “Dexy” or “Billy Boy” or whatever dumb nickname he’d come up with. He fought back with jokes of his own and openly smiled, even when they were bickering, and one day, Dex realized they were friends. They were the kind of friends who had talks about family and faith and identity in a non-academic, non-detached way, who comforted each other however the other needed and not how they were expected to, who saw each other in everyday objects that had no history as part of their friendship. They were fucking intertwined, and Dex didn’t know what to do about it.

  
Once he realized that Nursey was there and never really leaving, he wanted... something. He wanted something _more_. He wanted to know that Nursey was feeling this way too-- like he couldn’t see his life without Dex-- and he wanted to figure out how they could make it happen. All of a sudden, he saw beauty in everything Nursey did and said. Every laugh awakened butterflies in his stomach. Every touch warmed his entire body. Every piece of comfort shared between them evolved into a moment Dex wanted to keep forever.

  
So it took Dex by surprise when Nursey told him that he had feelings-- big, romantic feelings-- for him, but Dex was used to being surprised by Nursey.

“We’re close, Poindexter,” he said, as if Dex would refute it. “You’re a big part of my life, okay? I don’t want to fuck that up, and I don’t think you do either. So if you don’t… feel the same way, just, let me know.” They were in Dex’s room, Nursey cross-legged on the bed, Dex’s legs hanging over the side.

“I… can I have some time to think?”

Nursey looked so anxious. “Yeah, yeah. Of course.” Dex could see that Nursey didn’t want that, and registered the growing dread on Nursey’s face, and wished he could erase it-- but he needed to be honest, and figure things out, and ignore the part of his brain that told him to play it safe.

Nursey got up off of Dex’s bed and left, and Dex was alone with a jumble of thoughts to sort through and a faint buzzing in his head.

On the one hand, Dex was pretty sure he was straight. He had been attracted to girls, had crushes on them, even went on a few dates-- and those kinds of feelings were not the feelings he felt for Nursey. He didn’t find his eyes drawn towards Nursey’s legs, or his butt, and he just didn’t know what it would be like to find men attractive the way he found girls attractive.

Plus, if Dex had those same feelings for Nursey, wouldn’t he know it? Would he have actually needed time if he really did like Nursey? He’d pictured it before, and it had been nice; the two of them, living together, holding hands, cuddling up on the couch. But it hadn’t filled him with a sense of longing. It had just been a pleasant image.

But then…

There was the part of his mind that was screaming you can’t say no even if it didn’t quite want to say yes. There was the fact that he didn’t touch anyone out of affection ever, but he let Nursey touch him, and the fact that he felt safe with Nursey, and the fact that he lit up every time Nursey walked into a room.

There was the fact that he probably loved Nursey, and he knew that trying to make it romantic would never mess things up between them. They were a constant. They were a pair.

Dex was willing to give it a shot. He didn’t know how he felt, but he was willing to give it a shot. Except, that wasn’t right, because he was more than willing to give it a shot; he wanted to give it a shot, and for the sake of their friendship, both of them needed to give it a shot. The clouds didn’t clear immediately, but the nervous buzzing in his head was replaced by an excited one. And Dex needed to find Nursey, stat.

He texted Nursey, and he didn’t respond.

He messaged him on Facebook, and the message went unseen.

He tried calling, and his phone went right to voicemail.

 _Nursey thinks I’m going to say no_ , Dex thought. Growing more frantic, Dex grabbed his phone and ID and took off out of the room.

It turned out he didn’t have to go far, because Nursey was sitting on the bench outside Dex’s dorm, a scowl on his face and a journal in his lap. When he saw Dex, he looked up. Dex made his way towards him.

“Hey.”

“Hey, that… wasn’t very long.”

Dex shrugged. His mouth remained shut. Nursey looked angry, which was kind of hurtful, but very justified.

“So, um, did you come out here looking for me? I’m sorry if you weren’t. In case you needed to, ya know, clear your head.”

Dex shook his head. “I, uh, I was looking for you.” Nursey’s face changed from angry, and Dex couldn’t tell what this new expression meant. “Listen, you… you’re a really big part of my life. And like, I’m kind of confused about things, still, but I think we should.”

“You… you do?” Nursey wasn’t quite smiling, but his face was certainly… surprised. And excited.

“Yeah. I don’t know… what you had in mind, exactly, but, yeah.”

“Okay. Then we should probably… talk some more. Somewhere more private.” Nursey still wasn’t smiling. But he wasn’t upset.

“My room?”

“Sure.”

The two boys made their way inside, a cloud of tension surrounding them. Dex didn’t know how to act, all of a sudden, and he willed himself to be okay with it, because things were shifting. At last, they found themselves in Dex’s room, this time Nursey on Dex’s floor as Dex sat on his bed.

“So, we’re gonna try this,” said Nursey.

“Yep,” said Dex.

“Like… all of it?”

“I mean, what is… all of it?”

“Like, what’s the first step we’re taking?”

Dex shrugged.

“Can I... like, can I kiss you?”

“Oh. Uh, yeah. Yes.”

Nursey nodded, and stepped towards Dex. He put his hands on his shoulders and leaned in.

Dex was overwhelmed with the reality of the situation, for a split second, as Nursey’s lips found his for the first time; _what if the kiss sucks what if I can’t kiss a dude what if I forgot how to kiss what if he thinks I’m a bad kisser and this whole thing was a mistake._ But truthfully, the kiss was like any normal kiss between two people who had never kissed each other before: unsure at first, but quickly falling into a rhythm and _holy shit_ Dex liked kissing Nursey. He’d never kissed a boy before, and it was different, but not in the way he’d expected it to be. Nursey’s lips were soft, firm, and warm; his hands were on Dex’s shoulders, and Dex put his hands on Nursey’s arms, aware of the muscle in them, and it had been one thing to know what Nursey’s body was like and appreciate it as his teammate and friend, but it was a very, very different thing to feel it with his fingers just because he wanted to appreciate it.

Something clicked in Dex, and Nursey must have felt it too, because the kiss deepened, and their hands started to wander all over; Dex’s mouth found Nursey’s neck, and Nursey groaned. Nursey was running his fingers through Dex’s hair, until they moved down to the collar of Dex’s button-up, frantically undoing the first few buttons and unceremoniously pulling the collar of his undershirt down so he could kiss just above Dex’s collarbone and _holy shit_ , Dex felt the light scrape of his teeth and fucking _whimpered_. “Nursey, fuck--”

Nursey’s mouth broke away from Dex’s body and fell right back onto his mouth, and their kiss became even more intense. Dex began pushing Nursey backwards until he fell on the bed, and Dex was standing between his legs.

Their lips broke momentarily, and Dex forced himself to take stock of the situation, even if it meant ending one of the best kisses he’d ever experienced.

He took a step back and looked at Nursey, who was breathing heavily, and found that the same was true for him. Nursey’s mouth was swollen and his face was red. His shirt was riding up on his waist, and Dex could see that he was at least half-hard. The thought of Nursey being turned on by Dex made his head spin. All he could process was this amazing want that had been dormant in him, and now that it had been released, it was all rushing out at once. He was overwhelmed in the best way possible.

“Holy fuck,” said Dex.

“Yeah,” said Nursey.

Dex smiled, and Nursey smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Dex's snark disappeared because he was too freaked out and overwhelmed by his feelings for Nursey, but don't worry, they're back to their old chirpy selves soon after the events of this fic. 
> 
> (They chirp each other even more before they tell the team, so they don't blow their cover, but afterwards they kind of return to their status quo, unless Chowder is around, who is Very Concerned every time they bicker)


End file.
